At the Store
by cmr2014
Summary: Skye witnesses just how rough a ride switching sides can be, an innocent shopping excursion going wrong. An unexpected sequel to At the Gym. AU. SkyeWard.


DISCLAIMER: Agents of SHIELD and its characters are owned by Marvel Entertainment.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: So, this happened. Look, if I got anything wrong, like Ward has indeed seen _Kill Bill_ or this just doesn't go this way, my bad. Get down here and we can either settle it or grab a cold one. Just not on the clock.

 **At the Store**

Some internal martial artist had once told Ward a workout should leave you feeling refreshed and invigorated. He didn't doubt the increased blood flow energized you and woke you up, but it was his experience that the refreshed part of the equation came from the post-workout contrast shower he took. A quick lather-and-rinse to wash off the sweat, then 5 minutes of 30 seconds hot and 30 seconds cold. He always stepped out feeling better than he had going in, the soreness of a hard workout eased.

Though he would never tell anyone, he also enjoyed the scent of the coconut shampoo he used for a quick hair wash. Even the toughest men have their little luxuries that make life bearable.

Toweled off, he dressed back in nondescript street clothes. The charcoal tee, dark jeans, and steel-toed boots combined with his lack of bodybuilder mass to say _Nothing out of the ordinary here._ Not hiding from the world didn't mean advertising _Grant Ward right here, come at me bro!_

It was a Goldilocks day outside the gym, neither too hot nor too cold. Would be a nice walk to the bus stop. He started out through the parking lot, gym bag in hand. Decided to say goodbye to Skye. _Daisy now, guy._

She had tossed her gym bag into the back of the compact SUV she was driving and just gotten the driver door open. Turned when she saw him. Ward's face split into a grin at her shirt.

"What up, yo?" she said good-naturedly.

"Well, Sk – Daisy –"

"Skye out and about, remember. Don't start getting rusty, I'll spray you with WD-40," she teased.

"Skye. I just came to say have a good day, but that was before I saw your shirt."

"Like it, do you?"

Skye raised her arms to show off her black tee, contrasted against the cream long-sleeve it was worn over. The orange silhouette of a rat was in the center of the tee, the time period "1347-1351" under it also in orange. The shirt proclaimed in intricate lettering, BLACK DEATH – EUROPEAN TOUR.

Turned to show the back. Ward laughed when he saw it held the countries and regions hit by the pandemic known as the Black Death in that time period.

"I like very much," he said as she turned back to him. "Let me guess, that's what you wear for volunteering at the old folks' home?"

It was her turn to laugh. "Close. It's what I wear for going to the store. I'm out of a bunch of stuff and figured I'd hit two birds with one stone, grab a workout and go shopping. Though after those ridiculous pushups you had me doing, I'm tempted to make it grab a workout, then get a massage, _then_ go shopping."

Ward chuckled. "I'll let you get to it. Bus'll be by soon and I don't want to miss it."

"You took the bus here?" Skye sounded slightly agog.

"Yeah. Why?"

She shook her head to clear any trace of surprise. "Nothing. You just never struck me as a guy who'd use public transportation just around town."

"No?"

She shook her head again, a negative. "I think you like the freedom a car gives."

Ward quirked an eyebrow. "How so?"

"Bus runs late, forces your plans to change; cars don't run late. You run late, miss the bus. Car, you just hop in and make up lost time. Not to mention, you can't evasively drive a bus."

"You can, actually."

The corner of Skye's mouth twitched in amusement. "I won't ask how you know. Anyway, you catching a bus – it just seems unusual for you."

"Yeah, well – a lot of things are different about me."

He'd sounded like that earlier, too. So…something. Regretful was too easy a way to put it. It was the sound of a man who felt the weight of trying to atone for sins that can't be atoned for.

"Come with." Skye surprised herself; the offer was so impulsive, she almost didn't know it was her making it.

"What, shopping?"

"Yeah. Forget the bus, just come with me. I can take you back to your place after."

It was the blank face she was used to, but she could also see the uncertainty in his eyes. "I don't know. I mean, I _have_ enjoyed running into you, but it feels like…I'd say the wrong thing, or –"

Skye punched his shoulder. "Don't over-think it. It'll be practice being out among people. And you're going to be talking to the rest of us sooner or later, may as well get used to it."

"Well…"

"Come on. Maybe we'll make some of those new memories." She waggled her eyebrows. "Or I could always just quake your ass unconscious and drag you along."

There it was, she felt that little barely-there twinge of pleasure at his grin.

"When you put it like that…" He circled around to the passenger side, setting his gym bag on the floor.

Ward's head craned to the back as he buckled in.

"What?" Skye asked, turning the key.

A jerk of his head indicated the mattress and sleeping bag in the flat rear, seats collapsed. "Looks like some things never do change."

Skye's laughter filled the vehicle. "Part nostalgia, part preparedness. You never know. And sometimes it just feels kind of nice to spend the night."

"Right. All the comforts of home."

"Oh, I'm sure you don't think so. No truck rifle."

"Exactly. No vehicle is complete without a Ruger takedown twenty-two."

"Or an AR-seven."

He blinked. "The lady's really gotten to know her firearms. Color me impressed."

"I've seen a Bond movie or two. Oh! That reminds me."

Ward was about to ask what reminded her when she unbuckled and leaned over. His head twitched and automatically tried to turtle into his neck as her fingers lightly ran behind his ear.

"HA! Superspy is still ticklish!"

She chuckled when he said, "Warn a guy first, will you?" as he straightened up.

"And ruin all the fun?" She buckled up again and eyed the rearview as she backed out. Shifted into D and navigated out of the lot.

Ward experienced a few minutes of her driving before saying, "So, Skye?"

"Yeah?"

"What I said about you can actually drive a bus evasively?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you _sure_ you didn't know that could be done?"

Skye smiled cheerily at him as she steered hard around a car that didn't seem to realize the rules of the road were only suggestions.

"Think it's fun now, watch this." She locked eyes directly on him, seemingly driving blind.

"I'd rather you watch the – light, yellow light!" But Skye beat it with a heartbeat to spare, grinning at his discomfort. Having had her fun, she returned her full attention to driving.

Ward sighed in relief. "I enjoy that much more when I'm the one doing it."

He turned away to hide a slight smile when Skye laughed. It sounded nice to him. Settled in to enjoy the ride, as much as one could without being behind the wheel. It was a quick trip to the store, Skye zipping right into a spot at the far end of the lot.

"Not going for anything closer?" Ward queried.

"Nope. Workout or no, best to walk. Gotta play through the pain, champ."

"I see more of May than just training has taken with you." They were out of the vehicle and moving now.

"She's a good teacher. I had…let's just say I needed some extra help for –" Skye looked around for anyone who might overhear about her powers, decided just to play it safe. "– well, extra stuff, but May taught me everything else. Once you get used to the bruises, you learn a lot." She caught herself before adding something about not enjoying May's eyes the way she had his.

Skye didn't want to let herself think about…before. Thinking about that, what she had felt, how it had turned out – it stung. It was far more than something that could have been but wasn't. It was a reinforcement in a long line of life lessons that it's not safe to love.

And it wasn't good to go back there, anyway. This was a different Ward. He was trying. Doing anything that brought back the past could damage it; there were a couple moments back in the gym that showed her that.

Leave the past alone. This was about making a better Ward. Coulson had done it for her, taking her in as a surrogate daughter and giving her something she'd never had. Never mind the pain, Ward needed the same.

"– her one time," Ward was saying. "I'm not bragging when I say I was good. But May just kind of moved her hand and I was on my ass. She told me to get up and I said, 'No way, I'm staying down here where it's safe.'" He laughed.

Skye liked his laugh. She liked his grin. There was so much to get past, so much baggage that would take work to unload, but she was finding some good starting places. "When was this?"

"Long time back. Before she got the name. I was so green I probably was still on the tree. It was only the one time, she probably doesn't even remember."

"I don't know if it was the same move, but she did the same to me a bunch of times. It's like trying to keep up with a rabbit."

"Exactly. May-May the Rabbit. 'Let's rock, SHIELD-boy.'"

Skye's eyes widened. "Um, Ward, I hate to tell you this…"

Ward stopped in his tracks. "No! She couldn't –" Almost flinching, he turned to look behind him. His sigh of relief was audible. "Not cool!" he scolded a Skye that was almost laughing, unable to hide a grin. "How's it going to look if I make it all the way back from Maveth and die of a heart attack because you just had to punk me?"

But he couldn't resist grinning, either.

Skye kept her guard up for retaliatory pranks as they went in. Waited until they had a cart and were moving to re-engage. "So, check out the geek, he knows Bun-Bun."

"Oh, not personally, but I've heard he's pretty cool if you get past the switchblade."

Skye stopped the cart, much to the annoyance of the couple behind her, who jerked their own cart around them with twin glares. "Did that hurt?"

Ward blinked. "Did what hurt?"

"You actually made a for-real joke. Did it hurt? Are you in pain? Has your heart exploded like you got hit with the five-point palm exploding heart technique?"

He blinked again, head tilting. "I don't follow, is that something May taught you?"

Skye's own head jerked back, eyes wide. "Oh my God, you don't know _Kill Bill_?"

"I know it's a movie."

"Two, actually. I may just have to suspend your geek card over this. How do you know _Sluggy Freelance_ but not _Kill Bill_?"

Ward shrugged. "Tiny crash pad, nothing to do but therapy homework, internet too slow for streaming and no DVD player."

"Not even a PlayStation?"

"Nope, no consoles. Only video games I've got are solitaire and Tetris. Plenty of books, though."

Skye had pulled into an aisle by now and was comparing cold medicine brands while talking. "Anything interesting?"

"Depends how you define it. No fiction. No Sun Tzu or Clausewitz. History, but nothing military. Economics, from Friedman to Keynes to all the way back to Bastiat and Smith. A few on origami. A lot of yoga and zen, a couple interesting ones on Indian wrestling. For some odd reason, there's one on microconductors. Some language books."

"Coulson wants you to learn different languages?"

"No, not how-to. Think Plato in the original Greek, Ovid in the original Latin, that sort."

"It might actually be neat to read _The Iliad_ in the original Greek."

"I don't have that, not even a translation. Maybe he's worried I'll try to sneak out in a wooden horse."

Skye laughed. "I just pictured you carving a Trojan horse out of soap, a la Dillinger."

Ward's lips pursed. "Not to come off like a know-it-all…"

Skye set the two boxes she was comparing in the cart's fold-out child seat and leaned on the handle with an interested expression. "Yes?"

"Dillinger didn't use a soap gun. He used a wooden gun."

The interested look became a Cheshire cat grin. "Are you mansplaining? Is this the part where I tell you off and storm away? Or better yet, where I prove you wrong?"

Ward held his hands up in surrender. "If you don't want to hear it, that's fine, I just –"

Her grin turned more friendly. "Look at the new Chamberlain, so appeasing. Relax, I want to hear more. Just in case I ever have to escape from prison."

Ward lowered his hands with a slight laugh. "'Count of Monte Crisco, by Alexandree…Dumbass. Dumbass?'" he quoted.

Skye's eyes lit up as she gave a little gasp; perhaps Ward's geek card wasn't in such jeopardy after all. "'Dumas,'" she countered. "'You know what that's about? You'll like it, it's about a prison break.'"

"'We oughta file that under Educational, too, oughten we?'" Ward completed the scene with a drawl.

" _Shawshank_ for the win, up top!" Skye high-fived Ward with such enthusiasm his palm actually stung.

"Guys," interrupted a medium-height college-aged woman, "hate to bust up the quote-off, but I've got a sick kid at home and need to get to the children's medicine."

"Sorry," came the dual apologies, Ward and Skye moving on down the aisle. Once they were out of the way, Ward asked, "Make up your mind yet?" with a gesture at the competing products Skye had yet to decide on.

She waved the question away. "In a minute. You were telling me about Dillinger's gun?"

"You're still interested? Not much to tell, really. If you've heard the story, it goes pretty much the same, it just was wood, not soap. It's not that the soap part is completely untrue, it just got mixed up with another thing that happened, where a running buddy of Dillinger's was in prison and he and another guy made fake guns from soap and used them to try to escape, but it didn't work. They actually managed to take some guards hostage, but the guards got loose and that was pretty much end of story."

"Wow. Sounds like it would make a good soap opera."

Ward's expression was pained. "Ouch."

She smiled. "I'm serious. They really got themselves into a slippery situation."

The look on Ward's face worsened. "Please stop."

Her smile deepened. "If it had worked, they could have gotten away zestfully clean."

Ward rubbed at his eyes. "Enough already!"

"Aw, just one more? I've got a really good one about not dropping the soap."

"Please, no more," he begged half-playfully. "If we were Leia and Han, I'd be leaping into the carbonite of my own free will, just to get away from those jokes."

Before she could think it through, it just came out. "Aren't you more of a Lando?"

Even as the words were coming out, Skye heard in horror what she was saying. But by the time the thought had been sent to stop talking, the sentence was already complete. And even though she had spent entire sleepless nights wishing him to feel the same hurt he had given her, her heart suddenly ached as she saw in his eyes just how deep she had cut him. There is only one scene people automatically associate with Lando Calrissian, and it is not one that engenders good feelings toward the character.

"Ward –"

"It's fine."

She saw from his sudden death grip on the cart that it wasn't. "No. I shouldn't have said that. I–"

"It's fine! I had it coming. I've got more than that coming. I should be dead."

Skye had come to him, trying to get him to relax his grip, but her head snapped up at his last sentence. It felt like infinity times infinity that she'd wished death to him for giving her a pain so personal, and even better, in her fantasies he was contrite just before his death.

But however much she still remembered the past, this wasn't a fantasy, it was reality. And this wasn't the Ward who had chosen loyalty over love, Garrett over her. This wasn't the Ward who selfishly wanted to shut the world out so he could pretend it didn't exist while he burned it down.

It was there in his grin, his laugh, his eyes – it was in everything of him she had experienced today, tinged with pain and grief for the harm he had done. This was a Ward fighting hard to rebuild himself, to be better.

From this Ward, she couldn't bear to hear the sentiments that had sometimes been the only way she could fight through, using her anger as a weapon to keep the hurt from consuming her.

"No you shouldn't!" It was hard for Skye to keep her voice down, halfway mindful that they were in public but not really giving a rusty damn even that far.

" _I should!_ " Ward shoved the cart away suddenly; it zoomed down the aisle and into a chair by the pharmacy with a loud clatter. He sank to the floor, legs sliding out askew, hands still curled into fists.

Skye slid down next to him, unsure of herself. "Ward –"

"I'm the bad guy. Coulson should have killed me. What did he see in me that he didn't kill me?" His voice was far away, and so were his eyes when he looked at her. "I don't see it. I look for it, but I can't find it. I don't think it's there, Skye.

"Because I'm the bad guy."

She was about to say something, anything, when she heard a harsh throat-clearing. A very impatient customer with needs clearly more important than anyone else on the planet was looking down at them. "I'd like to go through, but you two are blocking the aisle," he said, voice dripping with snark.

Skye felt her face twist into something very ugly. " _So use another fucking aisle!_ "

Some part of her remembered this was a citizen. It was her responsibility to protect them, not turn them into goo. Barely remembered.

Ignorant of just how lucky he was but cognizant on some primal level that the look Skye was giving him would prove unhealthy for him if he pushed, the customer gave a face-saving "Humph!" and left them be.

Skye turned her attention back to Ward. The urge she had felt to quake that rude jerk gave her an idea. "Ward."

She got no response, though his fists were still clenched and he was breathing hard. Snapped her fingers in front of his eyes. Still no response.

Moved her head so she was staring directly in his eyes, their noses only centimeters apart. "Grant."

Nothing. She placed her hand lightly on his chest, felt how tensely his body was coiled. Wherever he was, it was someplace very bad.

All right, so she was going to get neither permission nor help in this. So be it.

Skye took hold of his wrist. She had to put some effort into moving it, but managed to get it up on her chest, over her heart. Held it there, placing her other hand over his heart. It was like feeling the ground a racehorse was running.

Hopefully, this was going to work. She didn't know what else to do to bring him back to her.

She held her hand over his heart, keeping his clenched fist over hers with just enough pressure to stay put but not so much it couldn't open when he relaxed. If he relaxed.

Skye closed her eyes. The feeling of his jackhammering heart was almost overwhelming, but she focused on her own. Focused on relaxing, breathing deeply. In…out…in…out…red, heated air being expelled…blue, cool air being brought in, filling every cell with fresh oxygen. Felt her heartbeat slowing. A car getting off the highway, getting out of rush hour, into a relaxing Sunday drive, slowing down and enjoying the scenery. Getting out and going for a nice spring walk. Slowing to a stroll to inhale the flowers in the breeze. Slowing…slowing…slowing…watching the clouds moving slowly through the sky…slow…slow…excited air molecules slowing as the temperature dropped, red going to blue, slowing…vibrations slowing…slow…rapid drum solo, slow it down there drummer boy, easy, nice and slow…pa-rum-pum-pum-pum…da-dum…da-dum…da-dum…da-dum…

Their heartbeats were even. She felt his palm flat against her. Opened her eyes to meet his, back in the world once more.

Back. Just not free of guilt.

She patted his chest anyway, lowering his hand. Got to her feet and held out a hand up. Ward accepted it, looking away.

"Thanks," he mumbled, head down. "I guess a soft answer turneth away wrath."

Her hand reached out, tilting his head up at least enough to look in her eyes again. "Just remember Maxim Twelve."

A slight confusion on his face cleared up as he placed the reference. "'A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head.' Any other time, I think I'd be surprised you're familiar with _Schlock Mercenary_."

Skye had hoped for laughter; it looked like she'd have to settle for the sad smile she got.

"Anyway, sorry," he said. "I – you shouldn't have seen that. Nobody should see that."

"If it's real," Skye told him, "then yes, I should see it. I think maybe if I'd seen the real you before…just before, I could have helped you avoid a lot of wrong."

Ward shook his head firmly. "It's my weight, Skye. Nobody else's. I have to carry it."

Her tone was gentle, yet still unyielding. "You can't carry it alone. Nobody can carry that weight alone; it will crush you if you keep trying. But it won't if you let me help you carry it."

"Why would you of all people want to?"

His guard was still up. Was he afraid to let anyone in, as he seemed always to have been? Was he trying to somehow protect her? Did he feel it part of his natural punishment to be all alone, even as he tried to make things right?

Skye didn't know.

Skye didn't care.

She placed her hand on his heart again. "Remember what you said about Coulson seeing something in you that you didn't?"

"Yeah."

She placed his hand on her heart again, letting him feel the beats match as she had felt them before. "I think I'm seeing it, too."

They stood like that for several moments. There was no emergency this time. Just two hearts beating as one.

"Come on," Skye said at last, taking his hand and leading him toward the exit.

Ward was confused, as anybody would be after the roller coaster he'd just been through. "Where are we going? What happened to getting all your stuff?"

"I'll get it later, and we'll grab take-out for now. You need two things, and you're about to get them."

"And they are?" Being dragged along as he was, pretty much all Ward could do was ask questions.

Skye grinned at his confused expression. "Human connection, and to see the _Kill Bill_ duology. Forget that little box Coulson has you in.

"For tonight, Grant Ward, your home is with me."


End file.
